FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

It was a much needed diet "reset" over the holidays as I found myself having a heritage lunch buffet at Camiña Balay nga Bato in Arevalo, Iloilo City. Despite the hectic gastronomic schedule the past few days, this lunch buffet ( Happy Birthday Ma'am Irene Magallon!! ) was a welcome change to the cholesterol-laden Christmas and othet parties of the Yuletide season. So what made it on my lunch buffet plate? A lot of greens and other food items one couldn't find in typical buffets and restos for they are mostly a taste of home. There's my favorite sauteed alugbati and kolitis, steamed okra with bago-ong, fresh lumpia, fried egg plant, hinanggop nga balingon/dilis, grilled bangus belly and pomelo. But this was just my first plate and many plates more came after. Check out all the other offerings for this Heritage Lunch Buffet at Camiña Balay nga Bato in Iloilo. The buffet begins with the famous Kap Esing Pancit M

Another Noche Buena is just around the corner as we prepare to usher in Christmas 2019 with this traditional midnight feast. So, what's on the table for our Noche Buena 2019? It's trendy as well as the classic plus personal favorites! No Noche Buena would be complete without the traditional Christmas Ham and Queso de Bola.  We got Purefoods Fiesta ham for the one we had from Iloilo Supermart was already "gone" days before. We prefer Magnolia Edam cheese which is more palatable than the traditional queso de bola which is saltier and harder for our palates. These two plus some loaf bread makes up the sandwich trio that makes our Noche Buena complete. A personal favorite of mine is Tinapayan's Stollen Bread which is a German classic Christmas bread. The best way to describe it is it is the bread version of a fruit cake for it has dried fruits filling and it is topped with confectioners sugar.

What's inside the box? It's the jiggly, fluffy and melts-in-the-mouth sponge cake freshly baked by Jim's Recipe! You've probably seen the viral videos on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram of these mouth-watering sponge cake that jiggles out of the oven and into a box. Now, it's within reach as this Malaysian favorite since 2017 has landed in Iloilo all the way from Kuala Lumpur! With a grand opening promo of 50% off of their signature Cheese variant, Ilonggos queued at the first provincial branch located at the lower ground floor of SM City Iloilo Northpoint near the elevator. It was a long but tolerable wait from having your orders taken to the actual handing of those cute "chic" boxes. Nonetheless you get to observe how the popular IG-worthy sponge cakes are made from scratch - right before your eyes. Eggs are cracked with egg whites separatef from the yolks. Flour, fresh mi